What legit solutions are on the table to decentralize mining?
You join a pool because the probability of you personally solving a block is astronomically small? You trust a pool to give you a share because so many other people are trusting the same pool. The pool tracks your work and pays you accordingly.
Can we achieve the same result with tweaked model rather than current pools.
For example, a group miners individually using the best possible mining software, where everyone agrees to pay solved blocks to the group. Then we use smart contracts and proof of work mechanisms to enforce this relationship?
Is this possible? If not, what are the legit solutions to this decentralization problem?
I am not an expert (and so my post and my thoughts cannot be taken as a professional ones) but I don't any difference between the two models. Or at least essentially. The new one proposed is another pool when has not an owner but many such and have no fee like the classic pool. All the other things are the same (at last essentially). If this can be called decentralization we can have the same result if can be created new pools which will steal miners to the others "old" pools using incentives or various bonuses. And we will be at the same situation.
The difference is that with today's pools you have one miner, the pool. That one pool owner is casting a vote for how the bitcoin protocol moves forward for thousands of contributors. In a model with individual miners everyone still votes. I am going to investigate p2pool maybe it is wHat I am referring to.